Fulton firm fits, manufactures artificial limbs

Company serves 15,000 patients

Jim Verhoff checks out his new prosthetic limb fitted and manufactured in Fulton by his son, Mike Verhoff, owner of Jim Verhoff & Associates and PSL Fabrication. Checking the fit on the device is John Huster, a prosthetist and partner in the business. Verhoff and Huster also are partners in PSL Fabrication, which manufactures prosthetic limbs for clients around the nation.
Photo by Don Norfleet.

A Fulton firm that has been manufacturing artificial limbs for 17 years recently opened a practice to fit patients with prosthetic devices in the same location at 110 Industrial Drive.

Photo by Don Norfleet

John Huster, a prosthetist and partner in the business, holds a prosthetic leg made in Fulton at PSI Fabrication. It can exactly match a real leg. The material has a texture and feel of real skin. Many men today prefer a metal pylon leading to a shoe instead of an artificial leg.

“This location previously was not accessible to handicapped people, but now it is. This has enabled us to provide fitting services directly to people in the Callaway County area who need this service,” said Michael Verhoff, owner of Jim Verhoff & Associates, Prosthetics & Orthotics.

Patients can be fitted for a prosthetic device for a leg and it can be manufactured in the same building, using state-of-the-art computerized technology.

PSL Fabrication LLC is the name of the plant in the same building that creates prosthetic limbs. It’s one of about a dozen large facilities around the nation that specialize in creating prosthetic limbs.

“Everything is computerized and we can store all of the information about devices we have created. So far we have created about 15,000 prosthetic devices for customers all around the nation,” Verhoff said.

Verhoff learned about the business firsthand from his retired father, Jim Verhoff who operated the business for many years.

Jim lost his leg when he fell into a saw at age 10 in a farming accident.

“My dad was a prosthetist for almost 50 years before he retired,” Verhoff said.